And then? Flora and Fauna....

So yes, one can flounder after a life changing event, like losing a parent, a sibling, a loved one. Dad passed about 4 weeks ago. I just haven't had too much to say and so, poor blog, sits here on a long pause. I think it's the first "blog pause" I've had for such a long time. I'm sorry if you missed me, ha ha!
I don't have much to say, but I do have some interesting photos to share. Images of Spring in the Midwest, starting with the return of the Sandhill Cranes, which are easier to hear than to see around here. But I did catch a flock resting in a nearby field when they began to move in this Spring.

Rite of Spring - Mariah climbs a tree.

Other signs of Spring including flowers trying to grow, and getting smacked down by late snowfalls and frosts.

I channeled my dad the first week of April and planted onion sets, some cool weather seeds, pea pods, radishes. My dad and mom raised us all to work in their gardens and I do have very early memories of different tasks. So it felt good to dig in the dirt when the weather was friendly...lately, it's not friendly. Very cold and wet....

That's OK. I'm finally catching up on indoor studio work: back orders, commitments, creativity. It's all in there, somewhere, I just have to dig for it a bit. Campground will reopen in just about a week....Happy Easter Weekend to all.

Cabin Fever? It Could Be Worse.....

It seems like it's snowing all over the place--and the blogsphere is loaded with snow photos, so, I had to add a visual from the WillOaks Farm. This was before we got 6 to 8 more inches early Wednesday morning AND the wind really picked up speed.

Green silk with olive jade, millefiori, glass, serpentine, green jade, yellow turquoise---
another in the "silk experiments series"....

.....all designed to be "multi-wrap" versatile.

Meanwhile, now it's Mariah's turn to teach Purrmeister how to
drink from the faucet, like Red Kitty taught her....

....and Purrmeister is a willing and able student.

And remember that "numbers thinking" I mentioned earlier? Well, this weekend, my shop on Etsy hit the 1111th "heart me" which was a good feeling, and as we have approached Valentine's Day, I took a few more orders. (I try to imagine what it would be like if every heart equaled a sale....not gonna' happen, but it's a cute fantasy.) Not to be ungrateful, it's neat to know WillOaks Studio has been "tagged" by both shoppers and other artists.

And while I still haven't quite reached my goal of raising $100 for Haiti relief and rebuilding, through my 10% donation from my sales on Etsy, but I did hit $93 as of Wednesday!
...and I'm keeping this up through 2-14-10, Valentine's Day.

A Long Winter's Night...Keeping Warm

I do keep the house kind of chilly. My dog and cats have decent fur coats and I can dress in layers. But for that need to get extra cozy, I picked up a squishy fabric cube thing for Purrmeister in case he needs to hide for a nap. It's a little odd how he sometimes uses it with his arm poking out like in this photo.

Mariah has discovered it now, too, and when it's empty, she claims it! It's got a sort of fleece material lining the inside and was made just the right size to hold a curled up cat. My older fleece shirts, spread out on various chairs, are another choice napping place. I think Purrmeister just knows how good he looks spread out on a chartreuse background, ha ha!

And you know how there was news about all the weekend weather in Chicago? Well, that snow really piled up out here in Woodstock. Yes, it's plowed now so I can try driving tomorrow...but now, in true winter style, the temps will drop below freezing...way below by Tuesday. You know what this means in an old farmhouse? Frozen pipes. I must remember to be pro-active. For some crazy reason, the hot water pipe to the kitchen sink sometimes freezes when the wind blows just so. I've tried to fix the problem, but it's not reliable so the water must just be left dripping. The joys of winter.....

So Deadly, So Beautiful (Part 2)

As promised, here is the second half of the more interesting ice photos from Christmas eve. Now, the ice is gone but there's over 2 feet of snow to replace it. It seems that Woodstock is right in the severe weather belt this year, right along with Wisconsin (which is about 30 minutes north, to the border.) I was completely snowed in yesterday but expect to be plowed out early this morning. Being the "old farm girl" that I was raised to be, so far, so good as we've got everything we need here & all is well...as long as the power holds!!

Have a lovely Sunday!! Thank you for dropping by!

Digging Out/Hiding Out - The Conflict

Pretty soon, I'll find some spare time for skiing if the snow stays deep. The top image, the rolling hills wending back into the campground, give a good uphill workout going out and some gentle downhill gliding for the return. Out in back, there's more hills so all together, it's a nice workout! When I lived in Alaska, one big draw was being able to go just a little way out of my house and landing at a city-maintained nordic ski trail. Well, we don't maintain any trails here, but it's truly just out the back door!

But realistically, it's still serious crunch time and today, I didn't care whether or not I could get out of the driveway (had it plowed anyway as the overnight drifting was heavy.) I must be nuts, starting Friday, and then from Monday through next weekend, I'm doing "Showcases" on Etsy nearly every day, just to find my way into somebody's, anybody's, everybody's (??ha ha!??) Christmas stockings in a couple of weeks...It's hard work as many of my designs get made when they are ordered, and just preparing to ship is time consuming, too...but I'm just stating some facts, NOT complaining!! I'm pretty organized and just doing the old "pedal to the metal"-kind of like preparing for, well, any number of big projects I've done with my art over the years.

So today I'm sharing early winter/late fall images from WillOaks Farm and concluding this post with Purrmeister who played so hard, he had to lay down next to his game and take a nap. That goofball is hysterical and truly keeps me grounded at the moment.

Thanks for dropping by!

Juggling Many Things at WillOaks Studio

I had forgotten how athletic kittens can be and how they are either all "on" or out like a light. Purrmeister turns anything into a sport, including the adult cats who are relatively patient about getting their tails chased or being gently bopped in the nose. Mariah isn't too keen on these games yet (she's coming around) but Red Kitty is acting like a patient uncle.


Yes, there's snow on the ground and it's been cold enough that it sticks and lingers awhile. The corn hasn't been harvested yet and when I spoke to the farmer's wife earlier this week, she again mentioned that they hoped to pick "maybe by Christmas", the hoped for schedule. If we're lucky, the ground will be frozen before they bring in the combines because we have "no till" fields here, so compacting the soil, especially when it's been this wet, is to be avoided at all costs. But it's just never gone this late before so it does seem strange.




And finally, a quick peek as a custom order I finished this week. The design challenge was to recycle this sentimental, broken strand of lovely pale blue glass beads into the structure I've been using for the "super long knotted" necklaces. By mixing in both a dyed blue quartz and a liberal mixture of opalized glass beads, I came up with 72 lovely inches that close with a sterling toggle. When the length is this long, a quadruple wrap is still a bit under 18", which doesn't really show up on the display busts as well as it does on a "real body" but the general idea is on display here. Opalized glass is kind of amazing in the right light, such as I caught in these photos. It changes from a kind of transluscent, milky white to showing internal color, depending on the light conditions. I just love the material...and now, I wait to see if the customer is pleased with the results....